Master
by Adam Decker
Summary: Of all the deaths that had ever hit the NCIS team, none of them had hit this closely. Not even Kate's or Jenny's death could compare to this. Forever Changed: Gibbs. Reviews contain spoilers so read them at your own risk.


Master

By Adam Decker

Overview: A loss they never thought to expect. Their own fearless leader is gone. Things will never be the same. Forever Changed- Gibbs

Disclaimer: I do not own NCIS. I own nothing about it. This story should never even be an episode if everything goes right. It's basically only written in case the unspeakable happens to Mark Harmon and what would happen as a result on the show. I hope that you enjoy, regardless of the sadness in the story.

Part 1

Abby went inside Leroy Jethro Gibbs's house. It was there she knocked into a secret lever which opened the basement wall to the outside. "So that's how he got the boat out," she said out loud. She went down and saw Gibbs lying on the basement floor. It seemed an odd place for him to be. She went up to him. The only reason she was here was because she was in the area and wanted to say hello. But something didn't seem right. She felt his body and he seemed very cold. He also smelled. But it couldn't be what she thought it could be. She felt his pulse and found out that he was dead. The almighty Leroy Jethro Gibbs was dead.

At NCIS Headquarters…

Tony and McGee were arm wrestling. Tony won.

"Ha," said Tony. "Three times in a row."

"You couldn't beat Ziva," said McGee.

"We would tie," said Tony.

"He could never beat Gibbs," said Ziva. "No one could beat Gibbs at anything."

"That's true," said McGee. "They'd have to cheat."

"Gibbs is so awesome," said Tony. "I can't imagine life without him."

All three looked around the room.

"Isn't this the time that Gibbs comes in and gives us a case?" asked Ziva.

"I'm afraid not," said Vance, who entered the room.

"Why not?" asked McGee.

"Gibbs is never going to help with any case ever again," said Ducky, who entered right after Vance.

"What's going on?" asked Tony.

"You should all come to the autopsy room," said Ducky. "You won't like the news I'm going to give you."

"You might as well see it with your own eyes," said Vance. "That's the only way you will believe it."

They all went in silence. No one knew anything to say. Ziva was about ready to cry. McGee was in doubt. Tony was in denial.

"This isn't happening," said Tony.

They all saw the bed with a dead body covered up. Dr. Palmer uncovered it to show the face. The three agents gasped. It was none other than their own leader. Gibbs was dead.

"How did this happen?" asked McGee.

"We don't know yet," said Vance.

"It appears to be natural," said Ducky, "but an autopsy will show whether it is or not. I'd never thought I'd live to see his autopsy."

"You are now the special agent in charge, Tony," said Vance. "McGee is now the senior field agent."

"Who found the body?" asked Ziva.

"Abby did," said Vance. "She was going to stop by her house and say hello and she found him like this."

They were all speaking in a very solemn tone of voice. Of all the deaths that had ever hit this team, none of them had ever hit this closely. Not even Kate's or Jenny's could compare to this.

"Everyone has the day off," said Vance.

"This is sad," said Tony. "I'm not sure we'll ever be the same. Sort of like when Paul died on 8 Simple Rules."

"I didn't know that you watched that," said McGee.

"Shut up, Probie."

"Old Probie."

Even their fighting didn't seem the same now. They said it so weakly, just to show that it didn't even matter. Not now.

"What will happen to us?" asked Ziva.

"I'm not sure," said Vance. "I'm just not sure."

The Next Day…

The team was at the office when Tony came in with an assignment.

"We've got a dead marine officer in Sperryville," he said.

"We're just supposed to continue on as if nothing happened?" asked McGee.

"Yes," responded Tony. "That's all we can do until we find out more about Gibbs."

"Okay," said Ziva, "let's go."

At the scene of the crime, they took pictures of the body as always. The sheriff of the town was there with them.

"His name was Frank Harmon," said the sheriff. "We found him like this."

"You know," said Tony, "it looks just like a normal dead body to me."

"I think he was poisoned. Do you mind if I assist you on this case? I've always wanted to work with NCIS."

"Sure you can. Just don't turn out to be evil. Um, what's your name?"

"Mark," replied the sheriff. "You know, if you have any openings in NCIS, I'd be glad to join."

"Now's not a good time," replied Tony.

"I know the economy is bad, but I didn't think that it would affect government officials."

"Tell that to incumbents."

"You know," said Ziva, "it wouldn't be bad if you helped us for a little while."

"We could use the extra help, couldn't we?" asked McGee.

"We'll see how things go with this case," said Tony. "Now let's bring the body to DC. Will things be okay without you here, Mark?"

"Don't worry," said Mark. "My deputy can handle things pretty well."

Back at NCIS Headquarters…

Mark was looking around the place. "Wow!" he said. "This place is so cool! Can I have an official tour?"

"I think that I will show you around," said McGee. "I'll take you to the director's office first."

As they left, Tony and Ziva talked by themselves.

"Who do you think this guy is?" asked Ziva.

"I don't know," said Tony, "but we have more important things to worry about."

"We still don't know what's up with Gibbs' death," said Ziva. "One day he's helping the NCIS team in Los Angeles and the next he's back home dead."

"Hopefully Ducky can get to the bottom of things," said Tony. "Hopefully this new guy isn't evil."

"How will things change now with you in charge?" asked Ziva.

"Well," said Tony, "I never liked the rule where you can't date coworkers."

"Neither have I," said Ziva.

"I need to come up with my own new set of rules," said Tony.

Meanwhile, McGee was showing Mark around.

"This is the director's office," said McGee. "Director Vance is the head of all of NCIS. He mostly operates here, although he does help a division in Los Angeles on occasion."

"Who is this guy?" asked Vance who came outside of his office.

"This is Mark," said McGee. "He's the sheriff of Sperryville and I'm showing him around."

"I don't know if that's necessary," said Vance. "It's great that he wants to help, but I think that he doesn't need to."

"This is my country that I want to serve," said Mark. "By the way, was there ever a woman named Jenny Shepard who worked here?"

"She was director before me," said Vance. "She's dead now."

"Dead?" asked Mark in disbelief. "Are you sure? Was it recent?"

"You know, I still get calls from people asking for my father," said McGee. "But he's been dead for a very long time, as has Jenny."

"What do you know about Jenny?" asked Vance.

"Not much, really," said Mark. "I just thought that if she was still around, there could be some information I could get from her."

"Is there anyone else you can get it from?" asked McGee.

"I'm not sure," said Mark. "But you should continue showing me around."

McGee went with Mark to Abby's lab. As soon as they entered, Abby hit McGee in the back of the head.

"What was that for?" asked McGee.

"I've found something," said Abby. "I've had it for the last ten minutes and no one has come."

"What do you have, Abby?" asked McGee.

"It's what you got, Abs!" exclaimed Abby. "No one else will ever get it right."

"Is she always like this?" asked Mark.

"No," said McGee. "She's just extra stressed lately."

"Who is the guy?" asked Abby.

"This is a sheriff who's helping us with this case," said McGee. "What do you have on the death of Frank Harmon?"

"Well," said Abby, "it looks as though he died naturally so I ran a test for poisons in his systems."

"Did you find any?" asked McGee.

"No," said Abby. "Tell me, Mark: Weren't you the one who said it was murder?"

"I never said that it was murder," said Mark.

"But you said that you thought he was poisoned," said McGee.

"I thought it was an accidentally poisoning," said Mark. "One that probably wasn't anyone's fault."

"What did he die of?" asked McGee.

"You should ask Ducky," said Abby. "There wasn't really any forensics in the so called crime so I just helped Ducky run his tests."

"Let's go help Ducky," said McGee to Mark.

They went to the autopsy room where they found Ducky and Dr. Palmer working on Frank's body. Mark saw another body covered in the room and went over to see it. While he did this, McGee talked with Ducky.

"The autopsy proved that nothing really happened," said Ducky. "The death was natural."

"Well that's a relief," said McGee.

"I have a question," called Mark from another part of the room. "Who is this other dead body?"

"That was our fearless leader named Gibbs," said Ducky. "Leroy Jethro Gibbs. I just thought it was yesterday when he first came into my office. He said he could use a good medical examiner with NCIS. That's when I started working here almost twelve years ago."

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs?" asked Mark in doubt. "He's dead too?"

"What do you want to know involving both Gibbs and Jenny?" asked McGee.

"Nothing I should really concern anyone with," said Mark. "I didn't think that they'd be gone so soon. I never got to know them."

"Are you okay?" asked Dr. Palmer. "You seem upset."

"I'm disappointed," said Mark. "I thought they could give me some answers on something I was working with. But I guess I'll never know for sure after all."

"If you want someone else to help," said McGee, "we'd be perfectly capable."

"We'll see," said Mark. "We'll see."

At NCIS Headquarters the Next Day…

Vance was talking to the rest of his team. Mark was not with them. In fact, that's who they were talking about.

"I don't know what this guy is up to," said Tony. "I don't trust him at all."

"Why is he asking about Jenny or even Gibbs for that matter?" asked Ziva.

"Maybe he had something to do with their deaths," offered Tony.

"I doubt it," said McGee. "He seemed very disappointed to learn that they had died."

"That's very strange," said Vance. "I don't know why anyone would have been disappointed at Jenny's death. I heard some mean things about her."

"You were together only one time I remember," said Tony. "That was when you came to take over for her temporarily."

"I wish it was temporary," said Vance. "Everyone seems to hate a person in my position."

"We don't hate you," said Abby. "Or, at least there are times when we don't hate you."

"I appreciate your honesty," said Vance. "Sometimes I wish I could have been more like Gibbs."

"You seemed just like him sometimes," said Ducky. "Sort of like if Gibbs were director."

"That would have never happened," said Ziva.

"We still don't know much about this Mark person," said Tony. "He seems determined to help us."

"Maybe he wants to be an agent?" offered McGee.

"Maybe he's just crazy," said Abby.

"Whatever it is, we have to find the answer," said Vance.

The other agents agreed.

Later, in Autopsy…

Ducky and Dr. Palmer were in the room sewing up Gibbs. Mark came in drinking a cup of water. He came up to what they were doing.

"Why do you have a cup of water with you?" asked Ducky.

"I'm thirsty," replied Mark.

"Well why are you here then?" asked Ducky.

"I wanted to take another look at these dead bodies."

"There are better times to do that! Besides what if you spill something?"

"I doubt that will happen," said Mark. With those words, Mark sneezed and some water spilled inside Gibbs. That's when Ducky looked at it and saw a shocking development.

"Oh my God," he said. "This might just change everything."

"What happened?" asked Dr. Palmer.

"Gibbs was poisoned," replied Ducky. "Most likely, murder."

Part 2

The entire team had gathered in autopsy. Mark was not with them as he was needed in Sperryville. Ducky was explaining how Gibbs might have been murdered.

"You see," started Ducky, "when Mark here accidentally spilled some water inside Gibbs, the contents of his stomach turned black. That's when I realized that it could only happen due to a highly dangerous and normally untraceable poison. It might have happened because he took something known as a death pill. You see if you slip this pill in a drink of someone, it will dissolve immediately and go to your stomach and then into the bloodstream. In a time of twelve hours, you would die due to some heart problem or other natural cause. Because the spores of the poison are still in the stomach where they started, just pour some water onto it and you just revealed what killed the man."

(Author's Note: I just made this up, unless by some chance this really exists.)

"How do you know that this truly exists?" asked Vance.

"Because," said Ducky, "Gibbs last case that he worked on in Los Angeles had deaths exactly like this. They came up with the same conclusion that I did. I just need to find out who did this."

"Who would want to kill Gibbs?" asked Abby.

"A lot of people would," said Tony. "We've made a lot of enemies in our time here at NCIS."

"We need to find the person who did it," said McGee.

"I think that we all know the most likely candidate," said Ziva. "This guy named Mark just randomly shows up right after Gibbs dies. What's up with that?"

"I don't think he's the killer," said Jimmy Palmer. "He never would have been so careless with the water that revealed it was a murder."

"Maybe he just wants us to think it was someone else," said Tony. "Why would he be so curious about him?"

"He seemed disappointed when he learned he was dead," said McGee. "Even though he said they've never met."

"I wish I knew his story," said Vance. "So it wouldn't hurt to bring him in for questioning. Tony, this will be your chance as the new leader of this group to show some initiative."

"You sound as if Tony never shows initiative," said Ziva.

"I'll be glad to," said Tony.

In the Interrogation Room…

Mark was in the room with Tony.

"Why are you so interesting in Gibbs?" demanded Tony. "Even if you never met him before you seem obsessed with him. Why are you into Gibbs this much?"

"I think it's time I told someone," responded Mark. "Gibbs is my father."

In Abby's Lab…

McGee and Abby were talking.

"Things will never be the same without Gibbs," said Abby. "Everything is forever changed. When you think about it, all of time is like this. The past is always gone, the future never comes, and the present is done in a second. What is there to do in life when it is as short as it is?"

"There's always romance," said McGee. "There is always me."

"I think the rule where you can't date coworkers is the stupidest I've ever heard of," said Abby. "A lot of NCIS agents are married to each other. (Author's Note: It's true. Watch the special features of season 1 to know for sure.)"

"I guess he only had that rule because he's had bad experiences with it."

"None of his romances worked out. I hope that ours could."

"I love you Abby," said McGee.

"Aw!" said Abby. "That is so cute! I love you too."

The two then kissed.

Back in Interrogation…

"What do you mean, Gibbs is your father?" asked Tony in shock to Mark.

"Now is when I should tell you my story," said Mark.

"I'm very curious," said Tony. "Do tell."

"Well," started Mark, "Gibbs had a relationship with a female coworker."

"This is why he doesn't want us to date them," said Tony.

"Please don't interrupt," said Mark before he continued. "You see, Gibbs never knew that she was pregnant. He left her before he found out and she never told him. After she had me, she gave me up for adoption and went back to her normal life. I was never adopted. When I turned 18, I joined the marines. Once I was done with that, I decided to become a cop. What I really wanted was to become an NCIS agent. That is why I'm here today. I never had a family so I thought I'd find out who mine were. I found out that my father was a man by the name of Leroy Jethro Gibbs. I also found out that my mother was a woman by the name of Jenny Shepard. (Author's Note: Aw, snap! Some of you may have wanted this, so I thought I'd put this in.) It turns out that both of my parents are dead so I'll never know them."

"I'm so sorry for you," said Tony honestly although his mind was really thinking _I can't believe that Gibbs and Jenny had a child together! I have to tell the rest of my team. They will not believe this._

"This is why I want to help find out who killed Gibbs," said Mark. "I had suspicions that a death pill might have existed and as soon as I saw the blackness inside his system, I knew that's what had to have happened. You see, it wasn't quite an accident when I spilt the water in his system. But I do still need your help. Help me find out who killed my father. That way, I might find peace."

"I think that we would love the help of a cop," said Tony. "I'll be glad to let you join us for the moment at least."

"It would be my honor," said Mark.

On the Streets of Washington…

A guy named Martin was walking down the street. He was approached by another guy named Rick.

"Did the pill work?" asked Rick.

"As far as I know," said Martin.

"Excellent. Let's just hope that no one ever finds out about these pills."

"Now I'm going to get another pill to try on someone else."

"Who?" asked Rick.

"Well," said Martin, "you know that the first pill was on just the leader of a team of agents of NCIS. His was the practice shot to make sure it worked. The main target is the director of NCIS. With him out of the way, we can fight for our new candidate to replace him. Then we will control NCIS."

"I think that this plan will work," said Rick. "This pill is almost untraceable in autopsy and everything else about it works so perfectly, people wouldn't ever know that it was murder. In fact, they've been doing this for years, the people with these pills. The best part about these pills is the fact that they have no antidote."

"That does seem perfect," said Martin. "I'm not sure just how well this might work, but it should all go well."

"Let's hope that it does."

At Director Vance's Office…

Vance was sitting at his desk looking at papers when two people entered his room. They gave him a glass of water and put papers on his desk. If not for recent investigations, he would have thought nothing of it. But as soon as they left, he called Mark to let him know that this just happened. He was able to catch the two in the act. He had gotten what he wanted. He found his father's killers.

The next day, Mark was about to leave to return to his real job. That's when he was stopped by his new friends.

"You're not leaving," said Tony. "You belong here as part of our new family."

"I'm making you an agent," said Vance.

"Welcome aboard the team, Probie," said McGee who could now delight in someone being below him.

"You do want to join, right?" asked Vance.

"It would be my honor," Mark replied.

All the gang went to Gibbs's funeral. There he was laid to rest. Tony and Ziva went to Gibbs's old house.

"Things will never be the same, will they?" asked Tony.

"I think not," said Ziva. "It's going to be a whole new experience without Gibbs. I'm almost afraid to ask what you might change as leader."

"Well…" Tony thought for a moment. "I say we get rid of the rule where you can't date coworkers."

"I think that would be a good idea," responded Ziva. The two then engaged in their first kiss. "I'm surprised we waited this long," said Ziva.

The End

Author's Note: I hope that you enjoyed this story. If not, well, then I just wasted a lot of time writing it. So let me know what you think of it.


End file.
